What a GST tax invoice must show
Rule 46 of the CGST Rules lists what a tax invoice must contain: your name, address and GSTIN; a consecutive invoice number of up to 16 characters that is unique for the financial year; the date; the recipient's name, address and GSTIN (or, for an unregistered buyer, the state where the supply is made); HSN or SAC codes; description, quantity and unit; the taxable value after discounts; the rate and amount of CGST, SGST or IGST; the place of supply; whether tax is payable on reverse charge; and a signature. The printed invoice in this template carries all of these.
HSN digits depend on turnover: 4 digits if your aggregate turnover in the previous year was up to ₹5 crore (mandatory on B2B invoices) and 6 digits above ₹5 crore.
CGST + SGST or IGST – decided by the place of supply
If the place of supply is in the same state as you, the supply is intra-state and tax is split equally between CGST and SGST. If it is in another state, the supply is inter-state and IGST is charged at the full rate. For goods the place of supply is usually where delivery ends; for most services to a registered customer it is the customer's location. The template reads the state code from the first two digits of the customer's GSTIN (or the state you pick for an unregistered buyer), compares it with your own GSTIN and splits the tax automatically.
GST rates after September 2025
From 22 September 2025 most goods and services are taxed at either 5% or 18%, with a 40% rate for a short list of luxury and sin goods; special rates of 0%, 0.25% and 3% remain for specific items such as precious stones and gold. The Items sheet offers these rates in a drop-down, but always check the current rate for your HSN code before invoicing.
From invoices to GSTR-1
Every invoice ends up in GSTR-1, due by the 11th of the following month (quarterly QRMP filers file by the 13th after the quarter). B2B invoices are reported one by one; inter-state invoices to unregistered buyers above ₹1 lakh are reported as B2C large; everything else to unregistered buyers is summarised by state and rate as B2C small. The Sales Register tags every line with its type, and the Summary gives the month's totals. The Pro edition goes further and lays out the GSTR-1 tables – including the HSN summary split between B2B and B2C – ready to fill in or check against your return.
When you need e-invoicing
If your aggregate turnover in any year since 2017-18 exceeded ₹5 crore, B2B invoices must also be reported to the Invoice Registration Portal to get an IRN and QR code, and businesses above ₹10 crore must report within 30 days of the invoice date. This workbook doesn't generate IRNs, so it suits businesses below the e-invoicing threshold, or as a working register alongside the portal.
Free vs Pro
The free edition covers invoicing, the sales register and monthly totals. The Pro edition adds the GSTR-1 working, a credit and debit note register that flows into it, and a receivables sheet that tracks payments, TDS deducted by customers and overdue invoices.
Written by Prakash Bagchi, finance professional and founder of PB Lab. Last reviewed .